Re: [gentoo-user] Managing multiple systems with identical hardware

[Grant]

>> Keeping all of the laptops 100% identical as far as hardware is
>> central to this plan.  I know I'm setting myself up for big problems
>> otherwise.
>>
>> I'm hoping I can emerge every package on my laptop that every other
>> laptop needs.  That way I can fix any build problems and update any
>> config files right on my own system.  Then I would push config file
>> differences to all of the other laptops.  Then each laptop could
>> emerge its own stuff unattended.
>
> I see what you desire now - essentially you want to clone your laptop
> (or big chunks of it) over to your other workstations.

That sounds about right.

> To get a feel for how it works, visit puppet's web site and download
> some of the test appliances they have there and run them in vm software.
> Set up a server and a few clients, and start experimenting in that
> sandbox. You'll quickly get a feel for how it all hangs together (it's
> hard to describe in text how puppet gets the job done, so much easier to
> do it for real and watch the results)

Puppet seems like overkill for what I need.  I think all I really need
is something to manage config file differences and user accounts.  At
this point I'm thinking I shouldn't push packages themselves, but
portage config files and then let each laptop emerge unattended based
on those portage configs.  I'm going to bring this to the 'salt'
mailing list to see if it might be a good fit.  It seems like a much
lighter weight application.

I'm soaking up a lot of your time (again).  I'll return with any real
Gentoo questions I run into and to run down the final plan before I
execute it.  Thanks so much for your help.  Not sure what I'd do
without you. :)

- Grant